The present invention relates to a hinge to mount a door to a frame. Specifically, the present invention relates to a hinge to mount a door to a frame, the door and/or frame being made particularly from thin medium density fiber board (MDF) or thin particle board.
It is generally known to provide a hinge for mounting a door to a frame. Conventional hinges typically mount to an edge of a frame using screws. Screws are generally inserted into the edge of the frame, parallel to the surface of the frame. However, as a screw is inserted into the frame, there is a tendency for the frame material to fail causing a split in the frame material due to the wedging force of the screw. This problem is magnified when the frame member is made of thin particle board, thin multi-density fiber board, thin plywood, or thin wood. When the screws are tightened into the ends of thin materials, the material can crack, split, or break, thereby damaging the frame, and possibly rendering the frame unusable.
Hinges are conventionally assembled of two pieces including a frame wing, which is attached to the frame, pivotally coupled to a hinge cup, which is attached to a door. The frame wing commonly includes a set of flanges. The flanges are configured to provide guidance of the frame wing onto the frame during mounting. Because the flanges, which extend along the surfaces of the frame edge are relatively short, they provide little or no holding power during the mounting of the frame wing to the frame, nor do they provide any bend back resistance or resistance to frame material failure.
Conventionally, during mounting of the frame wing to a frame, a user must hold the frame wing against the frame with one hand while setting a screw with the other hand. Such two hand mounting procedures may be inconvenient as well as difficult.
Further, during operation, a hinge is used to allow movement of a door from a closed position, through a partially open position, to a fully open position. A user of the door may attempt to xe2x80x9cover openxe2x80x9d the door by pushing the door in the door opening direction, to a position past xe2x80x9cfully open.xe2x80x9d Such xe2x80x9cover openingxe2x80x9d may cause the flange of the frame wing to dig into and damage the frame, may cause the screw to be pulled out of the frame and/or may cause the frame to fail by cracking, breaking, or splitting.
Because of the relative shortness of conventional frame wing flanges, conventional flanges fail to provide substantial xe2x80x9cbend back resistance,xe2x80x9d that is, resistance to the door being xe2x80x9cover opened,xe2x80x9d so as to prevent damage to the frame. Also, because of the relative shortness of the flanges, the frame wing has little or no holding power which may be advantageous during mounting of the frame wing to the frame. Further, because of the relative shortness of the flanges, the flanges do not aid in constraining the frame material to prevent the frame material from cracking, splitting, or breaking.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a hinge which is suited to be used on thin particle board, thin MDF, or other thin frame materials and minimizes possible damage to these types of materials. There is also a need to provide a hinge that significantly improves the bend back resistance of the frame/hinge combination. Further, there is a need to provide a hinge which assists a user in installing the cabinet door before screws are inserted. Further still, there is a need to provide a hinge which enhances the holding power of the hinge relative to a surface. Yet further still, there is a need to provide for a hinge having one or more of these or other advantageous features.
The techniques herein below extend to those embodiments which fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they accomplish one or more of the above-mentioned needs.
The present invention relates to a cabinet hinge configured to pivotally couple a cabinet door to a frame having an edge with a first side and a second side. The cabinet hinge includes a door wing configured to be mounted to the cabinet door, a frame wing configured to be mounted to the frame. The frame wing includes a wrap portion. A hinge arm is configured to pivotally couple the door wing and the frame wing. The wrap portion includes a first wrap portion that is configured to wrap around the first side of the frame and a second wrap portion that is configured to wrap around the second side of the frame and the first wrap portion is configured to extend along the cabinet frame a sufficient distance to prevent splitting of the frame material under normal usage and following normal mounting procedures and the first wrap portion configured with a raised surface configured to contact the frame first side.
The present invention also relates to a hinge for pivotally coupling a door to a frame being constructed of a thin medium density fiberboard (MDF) or thin particle board. The hinge includes a door portion configured to be mounted to the door and a base portion pivotally coupled to the door portion, where the base portion configured to be mounted on an edge of the frame with a fastener. The hinge further includes a first wrap portion extending from the base portion along a front surface of the frame and a second wrap portion extending from the base portion along a rear surface of the frame. The first wrap portion extends along the surface of the frame a distance in the range of approximately 0.15 to 0.75 inches. The second wrap portion extends along the surface of the frame a distance in the range of approximately 0.4 to 1.0 inches.
The present invention further relates to a cabinet hinge configured to pivotally couple a cabinet door to a frame having an edge with a first side and a second side. The cabinet hinge includes a door wing configured to be mounted to the cabinet door, an insert having a hinge arm configured to pivotally couple the door wing and the insert, and a wrap portion configured to be coupled to the frame. The wrap portion being interchangeable with the insert, the wrap portion including an apperture configured to accept the insert, the wrap portion selectively sized to fit around the frame edge.